arent the triad and yakuza incredibly secretive? whenever i hear something about them, its always "alleged" or a theory or a myth or something, never any hard facts or evidence

if thats true, then you cant really gauge their power

They are in the sense that any syndicate is gonna be secretive about their operations, but there are numerous reports of how much power they run in the political arena. The Yakuza especially wields tremendous influence and pretty much act without fear of reprisal. i think the Triad may be larger, but they gotta contend with the Chinese government, who aren't ones to **** with.